


Be Like the Bird

by ishtarelisheba



Series: Better to Face the Bullets 'verse [18]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Ish promptathon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 09:13:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15531012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ishtarelisheba/pseuds/ishtarelisheba
Summary: The Golds visit the Nolans to attend a small dinner party - a thin veneer for David to show off his nearly finished aeroplane.





	Be Like the Bird

**Author's Note:**

> [Prompts - _ladysibyl said: BtFtB prompts: 1) Now that Belle has publicly called Neal her son, does Neal a) do the same and b) call her “mama” in public? 2) Some More Mad Sheep Boys/Mad Gold friendship: maybe David wants them all to see how his Jenny’s coming along, or Jefferson wants to thank Rummond again for the flat?_ ]

The Nolans extended a dinner invitation, and though Belle knew that it was in part a response to the garden party, David’s excitement upon their arrival confirmed her suspicion that there was a little more to it. They’d barely gotten out of their Humber when Jefferson’s family drove up in the car Rummond had hired to bring them out.

“I hope you’ll forgive me if we don’t go inside right away,” David said as he trotted down the front steps. “I have something I want to show you while it’s still light out.”

He led the entire, slightly bewildered group in their dinner finery around to a stone barn a bit alongside from the house. Once inside, he pulled a great canvas tarpaulin from the Jenny he’d been working on for the better part of a year. The children made sounds of impressed excitement and Rummond stepped forward with interest. Belle smiled. Something he wanted to show her husband, more likely.

“Look but don’t touch,” Alice reminded her daughter as Grace went for a better view.

“You’ve got it finished, then?” Rummond asked, walking around the nose.

Belle kept a close eye on him, quite aware that he hadn’t been near an aeroplane since his own went down. He’d been doing very well, but she had made her peace with the likelihood that she would never be done worrying for him.

“Just about.” David nodded to him. “Just looking for the innards to the fuel gauge and I’ll be all set for a test flight.”

Mary Margaret murmured aside to her, “It starts up just fine,” and Belle could hear the apprehension in her voice.

Apparently unable to resist, Jefferson reached up to touch the propeller blades. _“Nice._ Going to paint it?”

“Yeah, I’ve got a black and yellow scheme in mind,” David crossed his arms, looking proudly up at the plane. “I’m gonna call her Honey.”

“It sounds lovely, Corporal,” Alice said, admiring it a bit, herself.

David looked to Grace and Neal. “Anyone happen to want to have a look in the cockpit?”

Both children turned immediately to their parents. Alice appeared reluctant.

“Emma’s been in a number of times,” David assured them. “She loves it. There’s nothing they can harm.”

Neal tugged at Belle’s hand. “Mama, can I go look?”

Her eyes stung a little. He’d been calling her so since the wedding, but never in front of so many people. She looked to Rummond, who was certain to have heard, judging by the way he grinned at her. He gave her a nod.

“Yes,” Belle said, and then swallowed hard when she felt the frog in her throat. “Yes, you can look. Be careful.”

She watched as Neal went over and as he waited his turn to be lifted up into the cockpit for a look at the dials and levers. David patiently provided an explanation for each question that he was asked. They stayed for a while in the barn as he extolled the virtues of this and that part of the plane to the children as well as Rummond and Jefferson. 

At last, Mary Margaret cleared her throat in her husband’s direction. “David, it’s time to go inside,” she reminded him. “It’s getting late, and there’s a chill on the air that none of us need.”

“Starting to feel a bit peckish, myself,” Jefferson said as he and Grace joined Alice again.

Mary Margaret encouraged the sentiment. “We have a nice dinner waiting for us. Let’s don’t let it set too long.”

Neal walked over to her ahead of his father, slipping his hand into hers just as Rummond gave her his arm for the trip back to the house. She curled her free hand around the bend of his elbow to steady herself across the lawn. _Slowly, slowly,_ she thought, but she had an idea that someday her husband would have feelings about going up in the air again.

**Author's Note:**

> (Takes place a few weeks after [the garden party](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15466428).)


End file.
